MANDEM’s MFA Thesis Work!
This post (continuing from our previous post) includes photos from the back of our installation space. A note on this presentation, from MANDEM’s written thesis:
The Theotokos and Sebastian paintings are presented in the front of my installation space. In the back of this space there is a gap between two wall segments (each with one of the Sebastian paintings on them). One walks through a gap to enter a hidden circular alcove, in which the remaining sculptural/collage-based works are displayed. At the back of this space, there are two collage/encaustic paintings (After the War… series) in the same dimensions as the Sebastian paintings on the wall’s front, but with a style closely related to the embroidery hoop work that otherwise fills the alcove. This layout is designed to allow the visitor to first approach the paintings, with their clean opaque surfaces and their interest in narrative and transcendence, as they exist in dialogue with the white walls of the museum space. On walking through the wall, one reaches a more interior space, concerned with the material and immanent body, primarily in dialogue with itself. I feel this allows a transition from one space to the next that parallels the transitions within the work from works that exist within a traditionally masculine/public domain to that which exists within a traditionally feminine/domestic domain. Yet both works are made under the same artist name, and positioned relative to each other on either side of the walls, part of the same body of work, in defiance of this dichotomy.
If you’re going to be anywhere near north Florida before May 1st, take a moment to visit the FSU Museum of Fine Arts to check out the entire Graduating Artists show.